Method of reclaiming waste



Feb. l2 1924; 1,483,361

J. P. MCCARTHY METHOD OF RECLAIMING WASTE Original Filec} Oct. 21, 19182 Sheets-sheet 1 Feb. 12, 1924.

- 1,483,361 J. P. MCCARTHY METHOD OF RECLAIMING WASTE Original FiledOct. 21, 1918 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb, 12, 3.924.

JAMIE-S P. MCCARTHY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICANLAUNDRY MACHINERY COMPANY, OF NORWOOD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

METHOD RECLAIIMIING WASTE.

application filed October 21, 1918, Serial No. 259,119. RenewedSeptember 18, 1928.

To all whom it my concern: I

fj Be it known that 1, JAMES P. MCCARTHY, citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinow, haveinvented certain new and useful 'Tmprovements in Methods of ReclaimingWaste, of which the following is a specification. 7 r

This invention relates to a process of reclaiming waste such as is usedfor the lubrication of journal bearings in railway cars and the similaroil saturated waste used around machine shops,

Such waste has heretofore been removed from the journal box and dumpedas a mass into a vat of new lubricating oil heated to about 180. Byturning the waste over and over in the heated oil, some of the sand,dirt and metal fragments fall to the bottom,.being washed out by theexcess of oil. After several hours treatment the material 'is removedand allowed to drain, whereupon it is laid upon a picking table, whereit is fiufied up and picked apart manually. This operation is carried onso as to remove so far as possible the short fibres, metal fragments andsand, dirt and other foreign matter. The removal of short fibres isimportant, because these fibres are likely to become locked or caught inthe corners of the journal boxes so that'they quickly dry out and thenoverheat and i ite the waste or produce a hot box. The uifedup waste isnext impregnated by soaking it with a quantity of new Waste in an oilbath.

'The present invention has "for its object to provide an improved methodwhich can be carried out more rapidly and with less manual labor thanother. processes heretofore practiced; which enables practically all ofthe oil in the waste to be recovered and utilized; which produces auniform production with practically a standardknown quantity of oiltherein; and which insures a cleanly reclaimed product whose value ispractically the same as new waste.

,Fnrther objects of the invention are in art obvious and in part willappear more in detail hereinafter.

The invention, comprises the several method steps hereinafter describedand claimed. I i In the drawings, which represent apparatus suitable forpracticing the method, Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of one form ofheating vat; Fig. 2 i's'a similar view of an extractor; Fi 3 is asimilar view'of the tumbler; and I ig. 4 is a similar view of an 1mregnator." j

y improved method, briefly stated, consists in firstheating the waste asit is collected or taken-from the journal box so as to increase thefluidity of the lubricating oil therein, but without the addition of anynew oil thereto, so as to prevent contamination and possible loss of newoil. The heated waste is then treated in any suitable manner so as toextract the oil therefrom, at least the major part of the oil, so that avery small but known quantity of oil is left therein. At the same timethe extracted oil is preferably filtered or cleaned so that therecovered oil is equal in quality and efficiency to new oil. The waste,from which the 011 has been extracted as stated, is next subjected to awell known process known as tum-. bling to separate from the waste allof the foreign material, such as sand, dirt and fragments of Babbittmetal, steel or the like, and also the short fibres, those less than say2- inches long, the remaining fibres of the material being flufl'ed upor loosened, so as to increase the oil absorbing and holding ability.The cleaned waste is then impregnated with a known quantity, weight forweight, of lubricating oil, in which condition it is again readyfor usein journal bearings.

The'first step of the manufacture, to wit the heating step, may becarried out in any suitable manner. The waste can be heated in anysuitable receptacle over a fire, but

preferably is dumped in a mass, as collected from the journal bearings,into a vat such as shown in Fig. 1, said vat comprising a hollowtank 1having a bottom heating chamber Q'cOntaining a series of heating coils 3through which steam or any other suitable drain ofl' fromthe waste. Suchoilis readily drawn off through a valve controlled opening 4 and may befiltered or otherwise cleaned so that it may be used over again.

The heated product isnext treated in a manner to remove the oil.Preferably this is done in what is known as an extractor, to wit, a formof apparatus in which the oil is removed by centrifugal effect. Severalforms of machines suitable for this purpose are available. The one shownin Figure 2 comprises an outer curb or casing 5 in the hollow chamber ofwhich is located a basket 6 carried by a vertical shaft 7 havingsuitable driving means such as the pulley 8 over which travels the belt9 from the driving shaft 10. The wall of the basket 6 is provided with alarge number of small perforations as indicated at 11. The inner surfaceof said wall is preferably covered with a lining or layer 12 offiltering materials, such as filter paper or cloth, which may be held inplace over the perforations 11 by small vertical rods 13. When thebasket is rotated, the oil in the hot waste is thrown out centrifugallyand expelled through the filtering material 12 and the perforations 11of thebasket, so that it is collected in the hollow casing 5 and isdrained, off to a container in the usual manner. This filtered oilrequires no further treatment as it is so clean that'it can be usedimmediately in the same manner as new oil. The waste itself ispractically dry, in other words, a very large portion of the oil hasbeenextracted therefrom. Although a very slight quantity of oil remains,this quantity is practically constant so that it can be depended upon inthe later impregnation step.

The extracted waste is next subjected to the tumbling operation. Inother words, it is enclosed in a tumbling cylinder and is batted backand forth so as to fluff it up and produce other results, as willappear. A number of different forms of tumbler are available for thispurpose. The drawings show for the purpose a tumbler of the same generalform illustrated in an application Serial Number 211,531, for dryingapparatus filed January 12th, 1918, by John J. Dewey. This tumblercomprises an outer casing 14 provided with a hinged door 15 covering anopening to the drying chamber 16, in which is located the rotatable drum17 having a foraminous wall formed for example of wire mesh screen. Thedrying chamber 16 communicates through an opening 19 with a screeningchamber 20, in which are located one or a plurality of removable screens21 and a suitable screened air inlet, as shown in Fig. 3. The aircurrent flowing through said screens 21 is received by one or'severalcentrifugal fans or blowers 22, which force the air backwardly throughthe passage 23 and thence outwardly to the open atmosphere through theoutlet 24, or upwardly through the heating chamber 25, or both,according to the position of the door 26. In the heating chamber 25 area number of steamheating coils 27 and the upper end of said chamberopens into the drying chamber 16, past the gravity valve or door 28.Door 26 is connected by a link 29 to a bell crank lever 30 operated bythe handle 31, which is located in position to be engaged by the door15.

The operative position of the parts is indicated in dotted lines. Let itbe assumed that a mass of the extracted waste is placed in the tumblercylinder 17. Rotation of said cylinder in the usual manner tumbles thematerial over and over against the baffles 32, so that it is flufied upand opened out as will be readily understood. During this tumblingtreatment the short fibres and foreign matter, such as. sand and metalfragments, separate out and pass through the openings in the screen 18,being carried by the air current down to the collecting screens 21,where they are deposited. By carrying on the treatment for a sufficientlength of time, all of this undesirable matter can be collected on thescreens 21, and by removing said screens the collected material can betaken off and burned or otherwise treated to recover the Babbitt metal.The fluffed up waste in the cylinder carries a small known quantity ofoil and is in condition for impregnatlon with further oil, although itmay be used for some purposes without further treatment of any kind.

The impregnation is carried out in any suitable manner, such as byplacing a known quantity of the tumbled waste in a hollow rotatablecylinder 33 having a door 34. In the said cylinder is also placed aknown quantity of oil proportionate to the weight of the waste. Byrotating the cylinder for a suficient length of time, the oil isdistributed thoroughly and uniformly throughout the mass of waste, sothat the oil content thereof is uniform. This waste is then ready to beused in journal boxes.

The method described not only saves considerable labor, but alsorecovers considerable oil that is otherwise wasted. It also insures apractically total removal of short fibres and metal fragments, a muchmore complete removal in fact than it has been possible heretofore toaccomplish by hand. At the same time the final product may beimpregnated with a definite quantity of oil so that it is of uniformcomposition and lubricating ability.

What I claim is:

1. The method of reclaiming journal box or other similar waste,comprising extracting the oil therefrom, and tumbling the extractedwaste in a current of air to separate the fibres and remove short fibresand foreign matter.

2.. The method of reclaiming journal box or other similar waste,oomprlslng heating the waste without moistening the same to increase thefluidity of the oil therein, ex-

tracting the oil from the heated Waste, and tumbling the extracted wastein a current of air to separate the fibres and remove short fibres andfo eign matter.

3. The method of reclaiming journal box or other similar waste,comprising extracting suilicient oil therefrom to reduce-the oil contentto a known average amount, t'nmbling the extracted waste in a current ofair to separate the fibres and remove short fibres and foreign matter,and impregnating the product with known quantity of oil.

4. The method of reclaiming journal box or other similar waste,comprising heating the waste without moistening the same to increase thefluidity of the oil therein. extracting sufiicient oil therefrom toreduce the oil content to aknown average amount, tumbling the extractedmaterial in a current of air to separate the fibres and remove shortfibres and foreign matter, and impregnating the product with a knownquantity of oil.

5. The method of preparing journal box I 6. The method of reclaimingjournal box or other similar waste, comprising extracting the oil fromsaid waste and simultaneously filtering said oil to remove foreignmatter and thereby recover usable oil, and then tumbling the extractedwaste in a current of air to separate the fibres and remove short fibresand foreign matter.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JAMES P. MCCARTHY.

